It's completely dead here at the dealership today

"Hooker" (Hooker)
11/28/2014 at 10:24 • Filed to: None

Someone please kidnap me and take me hostage so I don't have to be bored. Or just entertain me here.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you're as uncomfortably full as I am from yesterday!

Have a SAAB 92 for your trouble.

DISCUSSION (45)

Cé hé sin > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:30

Kinja'd!!!

Now here's an odd thing: Swedish reg, made long before they switched to driving on the right and it's LHD. Which, oddly enough, was the norm in Sweden.

Hooker > Cé hé sin
11/28/2014 at 10:31

So they used to be RHD? I did not know that! The more you know!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:33

Completely dead here - I had the option of taking today off, and will be taking it shortly, I just came in mostly to make sure none of my designs had surprise critical flaws that needed a fix.

Hooker > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/28/2014 at 10:36

Designs? What do you design? I had no such option to take today off (well, I guess I could have but I wouldn't have been paid).

Rico > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:38

Kinja'd!!!

thebigbossyboss > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:42

Watch this.

TxBrumski > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:45

What kind of dealership are you at? The showroom is pretty dead but my BDC is busy.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:45

Sheet metal parts, mostly. For highly specialized humidity and temp control equipment. If something doesn't fit, it can gum up an order until fixed.

I wouldn't have been paid for today unless I turned in some of my PTO hours either, but I could just not be here, certainly.

petebmwm > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:48

yep, same here, morning meeting was optimistic, but we all know that today is a nothing day....

Hooker > petebmwm
11/28/2014 at 10:52

Yeah. And I would be OK with that if I had access to Youtube or something while here.

Hooker > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/28/2014 at 10:53

That sounds kind of exciting! PTO? What's that? /sarcasm

Hooker > TxBrumski
11/28/2014 at 10:54

Chevrolet. Very rural dealer. We don't have this BDC thingy either. There are maybe 11 people that work in the whole place. Service, sales and parts.

Hooker > thebigbossyboss
11/28/2014 at 10:54

I has no Youtube access because firewall. I'll have to look later.

Hooker > Rico
11/28/2014 at 10:54

Haha!! That's funny.

petebmwm > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 10:56

poor bastard... I have all of that here!

jkm7680 > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 11:00

I can probably arrange that....... Kidding, but enjoy your pretty much might as well be off day.

TxBrumski > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 11:06

Chevy does well in rural areas though. Do you get a lot of holiday shoppers?

kanadanmajava1 > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 11:11

Sweden changed the side in 1967. It was an interesting decision because the majority of the people were against it but the government still went ahead with the plan. In couple of years people realized that the decision was wise.

Many cars were sold there with "wrong hand steering" and I think that Saab didn't even offer steering wheel in the right. I guess they realized that the resale value would higher if the car would "correct side steering" after the transition.

Before the transition happened they had painted double road markings and added second set of traffic sign. And a lot of Swedish drivers went to Denmark, Norway or Finland to practice driving in the right side.

They also made buses that had doors on both sides so they could be operated during the transition. Here is the logo that was used for the transition day campaign.

Kinja'd!!!

Hooker > kanadanmajava1
11/28/2014 at 11:19

That's kind of awesome! I had no idea but I guess it made a lot more sense. I can't imagine living there during that time. It must have been hella confusing.

Tina Corbett > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 11:19

We're actually steady at mine, here in Volvo land. :-)

Hooker > TxBrumski
11/28/2014 at 11:22

Not really. We've been in a slump for a few months. Not a lot of inventory (gotta sell some before they'll send some), high priced and late model used stuff, and we don't spend half of what we need to on ad dollars to get people to look at us. Before 2008 we could sit on our asses and watch the business roll in. Now, not so much. I'm not sure what happened. It's like people don't know or think we are still here. It doesn't help that our dealership looks like something out of the 1960's. Been her for 50 years next year.

Hooker > petebmwm
11/28/2014 at 11:36

Where is here? I has my phone but I don't think that would be all that beneficial.

Hooker > Tina Corbett
11/28/2014 at 11:37

I want an V60 please. You can ship it to NC.

TxBrumski > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 11:46

How many would you say that you sell per month?

Hooker > TxBrumski
11/28/2014 at 11:56

7-10 new and maybe a few more used on a good month. It's low volume. We saw a 30 percent YOY gain at the beginning of the year but have trailed off at this moment. I just got them to start doing some paid search so hopefully that will help. The phone has been ringing more so that's something.

Cé hé sin > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 12:04

Yes, especially because it was phased. Trucks went to the other side on Monday, buses on Tuesday and everyone else on Wednesday....

Another complication was headlights. Before Dagen H (the day R) lights were replaced by lhd ones fitted with stickers which blocked part of the dip pattern. These were removed on the 3rd of September. (The labels says "not to be removed before the 3 Sept 1967")

Iceland followed suit the following year. Samoa switched to the left in 2009.

Kinja'd!!!

TxBrumski > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 12:07

Wow, that's pretty good! 30% growth in any business is strong. Paid search helps out a lot. Are you doing it yourself or through a 3rd party like Cobalt?

Cé hé sin > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 12:30

Makes life interesting too if you're making a Swedish period TV series or film set before 1967. I saw one recently on the BBC, Crimes of Passion , and they dealt with the problem of its 1954 setting by driving on private roads or (when they could get away with it) proceeding gingerly for a few seconds on the left on a very quiet country road or kind of going along the middle of suburban roads and hoping no one would notice.

Hooker > Cé hé sin
11/28/2014 at 12:38

See, these are things I never knew! Now I'm on a Google palooza that is bringing me from one thing to the next! Thanks for the information!

Hooker > TxBrumski
11/28/2014 at 12:40

Third party. Place called search optics. Great so far. I just hope we have the inventory people want. It's a buy it where it is society. We're an honest dealer with clear pricing. If you compare, options to trim levels and the like, our stuff is always cheaper for the most part. I hope it turns around soon. I am getting nervous.

Tina Corbett > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 12:53

Sure, just gimme your credit card number and I'll get right on that. :-)

Hooker > Tina Corbett
11/28/2014 at 13:27

It has a limit of $1500, you good with that? Out the door?

petebmwm > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 13:50

the dealership, on my computer, it ended up getting busy, but i want to sandbag deals for december and get my bonus since i had 2 weeks off this month.

TxBrumski > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 13:54

That's all you can do is be transparent. What part of the country are you in?

Hooker > petebmwm
11/28/2014 at 14:32

Definitely do that. We are still rather dead here. I'll sell you a lightly used (6K miles) Cruze for cheap money! I kid, sort of. It needs to pick up here or we are going to be hungry.

Hooker > TxBrumski
11/28/2014 at 14:33

That's what we try to be. No games. No gimmicks. No BS. We're not always on point but we are never out to screw anyone. At the same time, we're in a position where we have priced our stuff and we aren't going to take thousands off a unit. Makes a salesperson's job difficult. We are in North Carolina.

Tina Corbett > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 14:57

For that, I can get you a nice pic of the new Volvo. But I promise to keep the pic in an actual Volvo for a week, okay? ;)

petebmwm > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 15:13

I sold a demo 750li earlier, made 2 appointments for tomorrow, and made 2 for later tonight, one for a 535i m sport, and one for a 320i, I tried sandbagging these, but one guy here pissed me off, so i'm going to sell more cars than he's done all month in a couple days. and I took 2 weeks off....

Hooker > petebmwm
11/28/2014 at 16:04

Kick ass! That sounds like a blast! Do you deliver them too? Teach the customers how to use their new toys? Show them where the blinkah fluid is located?

Hooker > Tina Corbett
11/28/2014 at 16:06

Only if you rub the photo on the soft dash. I'm a dash toucher so I'd like that. :)

Tina Corbett > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 16:08

Oh dear Lord...you remind me of rickhamilton off of the Final Gear forums!!

Hooker > Tina Corbett
11/28/2014 at 17:37

My apologies? I think? Haha. The squishier and softer, the better! No matter how inappropriate it may be!

petebmwm > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 19:56

bmw customers .... I dont even show them how to open the hood.... they'll never do it, just pull in service and its all taken care of. delivered the 7 and the 5, the 3 will go tomorrow afternoon, after I deliver an ordered x5. Basicly I was accused of getting "bones", so I said, ok, I wont take an up and still sell more cars than you! Now i'm going to crush him.

Hooker > petebmwm
11/28/2014 at 21:19

Keep me posted. Let me know how it goes!

petebmwm > Hooker
11/28/2014 at 21:32

will do.